Trending Now

You are here

Library Seeks Input

ST. MARYS — The St. Marys Community Public Library is requesting community input through a survey to help direct the library’s objectives in its long-range plan, which will be written by the end of the year.

After a recent visit to the St. Marys Community Public Library, State Library of Ohio Consultant Katie Campbell recommended a survey to help determine what the community would like to see at the library.

“She helped us put this survey together,” St. Marys Community Public Library Director Sue Pittman told the board of trustees Wednesday afternoon at their monthly meeting.

She noted the survey is easy to fill out and the library has already received several completed surveys.

“We had 60 surveys completed in the first week, and I’m hoping that we continue to have more,” she said. “Of those, 16 were completed online, so we’re offering this online as well as on paper.”

To encourage residents to complete the survey, the Friends of the St. Marys Community Public Library have purchased a Kroger gift card that will be given away in a drawing. Completed surveys need to be turned in to the library by Oct. 29.

Once the survey results are complied, Pittman said library officials will begin working on the long-range plan.

“Once we get this completed, we select our service responses and we write our goals, objectives and activities in order to come up with a long-range plan,” she said.

The survey, she said, helps get more people involved in the process.

“When we had the focus groups, we had about 12 people involved,” Pittman said. “This way, we have more people from the community involved.”

In the building committee’s report to the board, Pittman reviewed the work that has been done around the library. Several teams of workers helped fix the clog in the sanitary sewer earlier this week.

“They found several tree roots, and they were either wrapped around the outside of the pipe or inside the pipe,” she said. “We had the city of St. Marys Wastewater Department here, the city of St. Marys (Electrical Department) because there was a pole that they were afraid was going to fall down into the hole and we had Quality Pluming and Hirschfeld Excavating. We had four different companies out there working on this project.”

After fixing the pipes, the sewer was inspected, she added.

“The sewer was inspected by the city before it was covered, so everything was done the way it needed to be done,” Pittman said.

After having a selection of the trees removed that were causing uneven sidewalks, the sidewalks were also replaced to have a level walking path.

“The sidewalks are partially done, and we’re allowed to walk on some of them,” she said. “Weather permitting, they plan to have the area where they took care of the sewer on South Street covered with cement (Thursday).”

A leak in the library’s roof was fixed as well.

“We also had the roof leak behind the circulation desk,” Pittman said, noting the roof had leaked twice, so she contacted the contractor that originally worked on the roof. “They came in and they found three areas that needed to be patched, and they took care of that.”

After tabling discussion about the broken electrical boxes in the meeting room last month, Pittman looked into the issue further.

“My recommendation would be to just have Koester fix it,” she said, noting she had someone in to take a look at the electrical boxes. “It isn’t just the $93 piece that goes across the top, that whole unit is cracked long the edges, so they’re going to have to get a new piece for that as well.”

Because the broken box is located in the middle of the meeting room, it cannot simply be covered with a rug.

“We know it’s going to be more than $93 because we’re going to have labor involved and we’re going to have that extra piece, whatever that might be, but I think we need to have it taken care of,” Pittman said. “I will go ahead with that fix.”

Pittman noted the library’s floors will be waxed in the near future, as she is waiting for the worker to fit the library into his schedule.

• Approved a resolution to move funds from redemption of principle to maintenance and repairs.

• Reviewed the results of a humidity survey Pittman took in several areas of the library. Board members agreed research needed to be done to determine if the library’s humidity readings were within an appropriate range to preserve its materials.

• Approved a motion to authorize the building committee to make a decision on the library’s insurance options on behalf of the board.

• Approved a motion to recommend Board Member Kimberlee Pierce to serve another term on the board of trustees.

The next regular meeting of the St. Marys Community Public Library Board of Trustees will be held at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the library.